Last week Apple revealed it's new line up of the iPhone 6 (Plus). Among its standard features, Apple introduced Apple Pay as the latest payment technology to inlcude near Field Communication (NFC) and a Secure Element (SE). Apple Pay gives consumers—who enter their credit or debit cards into the Apple Passport—the ability to pay at participating retailers and restaurants.

However, you may recall a similar attempt at mobile payments in 2011 by Google's release of Google Wallet. At the time, First Data along with it's Allianced Banks and Independent Sales Organizations (ISO's) made a big push in a partnership with Sprint. Although some big chain stores picked up on the technology, small and medium sized retail and restaurant businesses were not so quick to implement the technology. It appeared that consumers as well were not confident about the security of apps handling their finances through mobile phones.

Fast forward to present 2014. Today apps and mobile payments are the norm. With Square, Paypal, Intuit, and virutally every merchant service payment processor offering a similar form of credit card acceptance with mobile phones and tablets, consumers are being conditioned to credit card transactions outside of traditional point of sale (POS) systems.

As the old saying goes, "Timing is everything." This could be the year mobile wallets start replacing plastic credit cards, even with the introduction of EMV to the United States in the near future. If you are a merchant that wishes to accept Apple Pay payments, you will need to upgrade your existing POS equipment to include a handover terminal or pinpad that comes complete with EMV contactless and NFC. Upgrading your equipment will ensure you have the capability to accept Visa PayWave, MasterCard PayPass and American Express ExpressPay­ as well.